An unusual month. The 4 month dry spell continues with only 2 days of rain this month. And it has been hot – we are having a week of 40+ weather (that’s about 105F for you oldsters). This has resulted in slow progress on the outdoor projects (although I was able to split and stack at least 2 and maybe 3 winter’s worth of firewood). Have instead turned to inside work, including selling stuff on Facebook marketplace. Spent a great week at a friend’s holiday house in Canmore and pretty much had it and Banff to ourselves. Great fun and first holiday in a year. Went to Lake Louise on a Saturday and it was a bit busier. Bought a few kilos of local strawberries and hope the emerging cherries will be ok with the heat. Garden going gangbusters. And we both just had our 2nd vaccination.

May was a month filled with outdoor dining at wineries and on friends’ patios. We also had our first vaccine shot early in May. And I shot a 38 for 9 at our local golf course (also shot a 52). Looking forward to the gradual opening that seems to be proceeding apace here in BC.

Busy Month. After a 6 week dry spell, we finally started to get some rain late in the month. Progress was made on lamp posts, gate posts, and a fence and trellis.

So, an eventful month. Next month will bring news on the automotive, earth moving and gardening fronts.

We managed to get out to downhill ski once and cross-country twice in early March, and then golfed the following week. At the end of March there is lots of snow in the mountains but none in the valley and the crocuses are blooming.

On a a very sad note, our neighbor and my good friend, Al Little, died in his sleep on the Ides of March. He was younger than me, in good health and spent most of his days working outside. Always cheerful and the first to offer a hand, he was a man with great stories and a huge heart. He will be greatly missed by Taisho, Mizuho and I and by all who knew him.

Al and I had planned to dig some post holes together with an auger I was going to rent. Some neighbors (and a friend) helped finish his fence and helped me dig some holes for our driveway gate (the foam I used for the gate posts last year did not work so I replaced them with 4×6 timbers and concrete). Auger worked like a charm – way easier than the one/two man units I have used in the past.

Next on the list is to finish the gate, finish a Japanese visual fence, finish two lamp poles on the driveway (drill, paint, install, wire), finish the garden expansion, complete the drawers in the closet and finish the shoe shelf (a test case for the dining room table). A tall order to complete before biking, golfing, kayaking and lazing about kick into high gear.

The stairs took a bit longer than expected, and are still not completely done. Square balusters are more complicated that round ones. And square mortises on a stringer are more complicated than mortises on treads. One hiccup was that I had made rails to install on the stringers with a dado to receive the balusters. After making them, I discovered the rectangular portion of the “fancy” balusters was too long to fit between the railing and the stringer. As we liked the fancy ones (they complemented the wood rama in the void beside the stairs), I decided to instead just mortise out the stringer directly. Next challenge was that the fancy balusters were .54″ in width while the straight ones (and the dados and mortises) were .50″. This necessitated grinding off the powder coating on the ends of the fancy ones.

Still need to glue in the balusters and install fillets on the lower stairs, and plug the screw holes with walnut plugs and cap one of the posts. Lesson learned – design fully before beginning construction. We should now be ready to get our final approval for the building permit, some 6 years after starting construction.

Winter has continued mild with mostly above zero temperatures and very little snow in the valley until very late in the month but lots on the ski hills. Been doing some winter sports, writing letters to the Globe and Mail, working on projects with the neighbors and on the stair railings.

Snowshoeing with Taisho (who loves it). Last one was 4km at the Nordic Center, one of the places we also cross-country ski. About 45 minutes from us, it has 75kms of ski trails and 65kms of snowshoe trails, and great views.

Neighbor Al has cut down some samplings on our property to use as fence rails and then helped out our new next door neighbor cut down a large tree that was leaning over his pool. New neighbor bought a large fast quad and has been plowing his, our and Al’s driveways.

A local grocery has a sale on pork legs each year for $1/lb. We bought 150 lbs and another 20kgs of pork butt to make 400 sausages (brats, spicy Italian and smoked), cured pork knuckle, a few roasts, some speck and lots of scaloppini shared 3 ways. Klaus has the equipment and knowledge, while we provide the manpower. It has become an annual tradition.

December involved a few projects, with two gabions moved and three filled, three posts stained and two post bases made so we will be ready to build a visual-barrier fence with 4×4 cedar and 4 wooden Japanese screens. Also made some progress on the stairs, especially with cutting, mortising, dadoing and chamfering the posts, making the rails and deciding on the balusters. Next step is a lot of sanding and oiling before installing the posts, mortising the stringers and railings, and then installing the balusters (once we get them) and the railings. We have had an unusually large amount of snow in December (about 35cm) and the quad kept stalling. Had to use Bob to plow today. Neighbor said he will plow our drive with his very fancy quad until I can get mine fixed, likely in a few weeks.

Our year began with a polar bear swim and ended with a quiet Christmas and New Years. For us like everyone, it has been a different and interesting year. On the house front, we finished the front entry; installed a MEC door for the pantry/laundry; paved the parking area and rolled out 500 ft of recycled asphalt on the driveway and added a gate; created a new rose garden and patio, and planted (and watered) 100 tree seedlings. Projects this year took a back seat to leisure as we found time to kayak, motorcycle and wine tour, camp, make sausages, garden and eat very well. Next year will likely be more of the same (hopefully!) with maybe a few trips thrown in.

November for us is a time of transition, from warm weather to cooler weather with some snow. Had our last golf game of the season and stored the clubs; installed two ski racks in the garage to keep the skis out of the house and handy to the car; stored the car for the winter; cleaned up the garden, and got the winter stuff out. We had 3 snowfalls in November – 12, 5 and 5 cm – with 99% melted by the end of the month.

Neighbor Al and I walked the 1,500′ of one property line (113 degrees with 15 degrees declination) from survey pin to survey pin and flagged or staked the line every hundred feet or so. Discovered the neighbor’s fenced septic field extends about 40′ over the line. Al and I also cut down some tall skinny (4″ wide x 40-50′ high) fir trees that will never amount to anything. Al debarked them and used them for 14′ rails for the fence he is building (see below). The tops of some will become Christmas trees.

Lastly, have been spending quality time with Bob cleaning out another flat area. This area had been covered in large rocks and dirt. The large rocks were pulled down and most were moved a few years ago. I had to empty two gabions (they were perpendicular to the one on the far right) and dig out the dirt and move 20 bucketfuls to the lower parking area (they will eventually be spread along the driveway). Two of the gabions are almost refilled. The 3rd gabion will have a 4×4 post that will be connected to 2 other posts with a beam from which 4 Japanese screens will hang to screen the upper area from view. This won’t happen until the spring unless I get cracking on the posts.

The month began with +25 sunshine and a road trip to Spirit Lodge and several wineries near Osoyoos, and some local chanterelle, lobster and matsutake mushrooms. Spent most of the month getting ready for winter – getting stuff organized, stored or given away – and giving the 100+ seedlings a final watering. Had a day of record cold and snow later in the month followed by more sunshine and warm weather.

And lastly, for your viewing pleasure…

Not a lot to report on the house front as the month has been largely devoted to outdoor leisure – golfing (Mizuho is getting really good), biking, camping. September set a new monthly high for the valley. Spent several hours every 3 to 4 days watering the 100+ tree seedlings (which are doing very well). Dug out and gave away dozens of irises to friends and neighbors. Mizuho saw a bear in a tree beside the driveway – it was scared by Taisho. Spent a few days power washing 4 different rock faces and badly strained my shoulder in doing so. And we celebrated our 33rd anniversary with an excellent tasting-menu dinner at the new (and very impressive) restaurant at Cedar Creek.